Woman Constables Janet Williams-Richards (left) and Natasha Green (right) of the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) attempt to console a woman who had accompanied Corporal Headley Davis to the store in Kingston yesterday, where he was killed by gunmen during a robbery. -Carlington WilmotHORRIFIED FRIENDS who accompanied a police corporal from St. James to a hardware store in Kingston, yesterday, watched as he took his last breath, after being shot by gunmen in a robbery at the store.
The lawman has since been identified as 40-year-old Headley Davis, formerly of the Spring Mount Police Station, St. James. He became the fifth policeman to be killed by gunmen since the start of the year.
Reports are that about 9:15 a.m., Corporal Davis and two friends drove up and were entering the New Magnol House hardware store on Slipe Road, Kingston 5, when he was challenged by the gunmen, who shot him several times. When the skoke cleared, it was discovered that a female employee was also shot and injured.
The Gleaner understands that immediately after entering the store, the gunmen asked "where is the bathroom with the vault with the money?" Eyewitnesses said the killers took the policeman's 9-mm pistol and an undetermined sum of money from his pocket.
National Security Minister, Peter Phillips, in a statement on the murder said that, "the battle against these voracious criminals must be intensified because this is a war that the law abiding must win."
"All members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) on duty or off duty should be extra careful as you go about your everyday activities," Dr. Phillips warned.
A release from Jamaicans For Justice (JFF) said it is extremely distressing that the nation should lose yet another member of the police force to violent crime.
"We call on the other members of the JCF to spare no effort to investigate his death and bring the perpetrators of this crime before the court. We call on all persons with information on this, or any other crime, to come forward," the JFJ release said.
